To the hills I lift mine eyes. C. Wesley. [Ps. cxxi.] Published in Psalms & Hymns, 1743, in 6 stanzas of 8 lines. (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. viii., p. 235). In A. M. Toplady's Psalms & Hymns, 1776, stanzas i., ii. and iv. were given with alterations, as No. 227. This cento has gone out of use. The following arrangements of the text are in several modern hymn-books:—
1. To the hills I lift my eyes. This, with the omission of stanzas v., was given in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1800, as one of the additional hymns. It is in the revised edition, 1875, and other collections.
2. See the Lord, thy Keeper, stand. This in Martineau's Hymns, &c, 1873, is composed of stanzas iv., vi. 11. 1-4; iii. 11. 5-8, altered.
3. God shall bless thy going out. In the American Unitarian Hymns for the Church of Christ, 1853, No. 74, and later American collections. It is composed of stanzas vi. lines 1-4, and stanzas ii. 11. 5-8, altered.
This version ranks with the best of C. Wesley's renderings of the Psalms.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Charles Wesley, M.A. was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, and was born at Epworth Rectory, Dec. 18, 1707. In 1716 he went to Westminster School, being provided with a home and board by his elder brother Samuel, then usher at the school, until 1721, when he was elected King's Scholar, and as such received his board and education free. In 1726 Charles Wesley was elected to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1729, and became a college tutor. In the early part of the same year his religious impressions were much deepene… Go to person page >
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